“I believe that deep within the strains and tensions we are
experiencing God is profoundly present, and it is our task, aided
by the Holy Spirit, to live the present moment in all its fullness
--
confident that we shall come to a place of deeper
communion.
If we allow that same Spirit to pour the love of God within our
hearts without measure, we shall certainly find the way forward
and become a source of blessing, not only to ourselves but to a
fractured and fearful world around us. God’s
power working in us,
as we are told by St. Paul, can do
more than we can ask or imagine.”
Chalet L’Abri, August, 2004
Measuring My Days…....acg
Summer seeps full-grown into August here on the southeastern-most tip of the Massanutten. Now along our Virginia byways, as in summers immemorial, wildflowers of immense variety
nod their benediction. Less than a mile east of where I live on U. S. 33, the
Master Artist has splashed His canvas with a magnificent bouquet of Queen Anne’s lace, black-eyed susans, chicory, ox-eye
daisies and phlox of several varieties. Who needs a Matisse or VanGogh when you
can have the real thing? Two weeks ago enroute to Harper’s Ferry
along route 42 I cerebrally ‘picked’ hundreds of such bouquets, storing them in memory for when cold winds blow,
treasures immune to the vagaries of the Dow Jones. Meanwhile, across the globe
in New Zealand, Rosemary writes of a handful of early potted narcissi “showing off their petticoats”, a reminder
that all is in precision with our gently tilting, revolving planet waltzing through the universe in cadence with Kepler’s
“music of the spheres”.
A friend has reported the early departure of geese from his farm in Shenandoah County.
Enigmatic and mysterious migration of geese and other waterfowl are reminders of our Caretaker’s orderly plan
for all His creatures. Migration proceeds in stages as flocks fly from lake to lake exercising their wings in preparation for the long haul
like runners training for the Olympics. What triggers them to know
when to start on their semi-annual journey back
and forth across the planet? Almost daily now I see their low flyovers, but as Autumn draws near they will be much higher overhead enroute south to their winter
haven. How can they travel such long distances? How do they know where to go? Ornithologists have theories
but few definitive answers. Perhaps it is enough for man to know that “to
every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
___________________
“No human being will ever master God, for He cannot be reduced to an equation on a chalkboard, handled
and classified by a scientist or philosopher….If God is real, then He is the giver of mind, thought, and intellect….As
we explore a fraction of our amazing universe, we come face to face with a profound truth:
Someone infinitely more marvelous than we can possibly imagine is the architect of our reality. So while we admit we cannot have deductive proof of God’s existence, we have evidence that
amounts to an overwhelmingly compelling case – we can achieve a balance of probability that goes way beyond reasonable
doubt.” Joe Boot, Beyond Reasonable
Doubt
“I long to accomplish a great and noble task,
but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”
Helen Keller